"Pick Up Truck" by photographer Cella Neapolitan of Cookeville, is among the pieces included in the "Art from the Ashes" auction on June 28.

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Art in a community exhibit at the Knoxville Museum of Art will be auctioned this month to help people affected by the December fly ash spill at the Tennessee Valley Authority's Kingston Fossil Plant.

Entitled "Art From the Ashes," the pieces range from paintings to jewelry to glass. Forty-four objects are on exhibit through June 28 in the KMA community gallery, a first-floor space that is open to regional nonprofit visual arts and cultural organizations for exhibits.

The 44 pieces, along with at least another 16, will be sold at a 3 p.m. June 28 auction at the museum. Silent auction bids may be placed before June 28 in a bid book at the start of the exhibit.

The money raised will go to the area environmental group United Mountain Defense. The proceeds will provide medical and other assistance to residents whose health is affected by the spill, said auction co-organizer Mary Wilson of Knoxville.

The Dec. 22 rupture of a storage pond at the fossil plant dumped 5.4 million cubic yards of fly ash sludge into the Emory River and surrounding countryside. Heavy rains in early May flushed an undetermined amount of the ash about 10 miles downstream down the Clinch River and into the Tennessee River portion of Watts Bar Lake.

"Art From The Ashes" began because community activist Wilson and fellow show organizer Kim Webber of Knoxville wanted to take some action to help residents affected by the spill. They decided on a community art exhibit that "was tasteful, not challenging and not negative," Wilson said.

"We wanted a neighbor-to-neighbor event. That turned out to be 'Art From the Ashes.' "

The women contacted local artists who in turn contacted their peers in Tennessee and other states. And so works by local and regional artists are joined by pieces from people in Virginia, North Carolina and New Jersey.

Some pieces in "Art From The Ashes" carry an environmental message. Artist and retired actor Lee Jines created a sculpture using paint and found objects that he mounted on a board frame. The central object is a fish sculpture that wears a scuba diving mask and has a tight rusty buckle across its belly. The work is entitled "The (Once) Great Clinch River Spring Fish."

An acrylic painting on canvas by Knoxville artist/photographer Lee Ramsey is called "Green Power Now." Another environmental message comes across in the painting worked on by 22-month-old Evyn Davis.

Evyn lived with his grandmother Penny Dodson in the Swan Pond area affected by the ash spill. The painting of acrylics on canvas has a finger-painted background. In the foreground are towers like those of the Kingston Fossil Plant, and the block print word "SURVIVOR" in red letters. Wilson said that Evyn, who has cerebral palsy, did the painting's background. Dodson added the towers and lettering.

But a more peaceful view of nature is also presented through works in the exhibit. Among works with the nature theme are five color photos by Murfreesboro photojournalist Alex Blackwelder. Their topics range from depictions of flowers to a photo of an old pickup truck covered over with weeds.

Other entries are art for art's sake. Christianburg, Va., glass artist Gene Messick sent a clear glass art bowl as well as a bright yellow glass bowl he called "Bowl of Sunshine 2." Rachel Pollack, a costume crafts artist in Chapel Hill, N.C., donated three artistic hats. Other objects range from a stoneware cookie jar by University of Tennessee ceramic art student Derek VerDow to a framed "Obama for President" silkscreen poster by Kevin Bradley of Yee Haw Industries. Jewelry includes "chainmaille" bracelet and earrings by artist Billie Sue Owens.

Wilson said she's uncertain how much money to expect from the auction. If all the silent auction's minimum bids are met, the art could bring in $3,000. Artists who gave to the exhibit, she said, "are so moved about this and the destruction of our environment. And because they have these talents, they wanted to say it with their talent."

Amy McRary may be reached at 865-342-6437.

© 2009, Knoxville News Sentinel
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